


Glory and Gore

by buoyantsaturn



Series: Prompts [5]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Based on a Tumblr Post, Blood and Injury, Headcanon prompt, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Secret Relationship, bad boy nico, sheriff's son will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-27 00:05:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14413377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: the request: police officers son will and like bad boy nico? like all the sneakin through the window at night Romeo and Juliet type shit.and what a great idea it wasbased on this headcanon list





	Glory and Gore

**Author's Note:**

> holy cow this is officially the longest oneshot ive ever written i loved writing it and i hope you love reading it!!

Will had a free period after lunch, so he spent his time volunteering in the nurse’s office. Hardly anyone ever came into the nurse’s office unless it was for a quick fix - needing a bandaid or an ice pack - so Will was still able to work on homework from his morning classes in between visits.

The school nurse would generally take a long lunch break since Will was there to take care of things, and for the most part Will had the office all to himself for over an hour. Of course, since this was also most students’ lunch period, and everyone was always rowdier and less supervised during that time, there were a lot more mishaps during that time than any other during the day. Someone slipped on a tater tot and hit their head on a nearby table, or someone walked too close to an accidental flying fist. And then, as always, was Nico di Angelo.

Will hated to admit that he enjoyed seeing Nico when he stopped by the nurse’s office. He hated the reason, obviously, but he liked the company - and Nico was pretty nice to look at, which didn’t hurt either. Nice to look at when he wasn’t bruised and bleeding, that is. Nico had a habit of getting into fights during lunch, and would get dragged to the nurse’s office before being ushered away to the principal, though Will had hardly ever seen Nico’s opponents drop in after a fight. Maybe Nico wasn’t so much as getting in fights as he was getting bullied, but he was sure that Nico would never admit to that, so Will had never pressed.

Will was in the middle of reading a chapter of his AP US History textbook when there was a knock on the office door. He turned his head just in time to see the Spanish teacher shove Nico into the room before leaving and closing the door behind herself. Nico was hunched over slightly, tugging his jacket tightly around himself, and his nose was bleeding so bad that Will thought he might’ve left a trail into the office.

“Hey,” Will said, turning back to his homework. “What happened?”

“Same shit as always,” Nico said, his usual answer. He walked over to the fridge in the corner and pulled an ice pack out of the freezer, holding it to his nose as he went over to take a seat on the cot against the wall.

Will pulled a few tissues out of the box on the desk and held them out to Nico. “You’re bleeding on my floor.” Nico took the tissues from him and held them to his nose, careful not to press too hard and cause more pain.

“Your floor,” Nico repeated, and huffed a laugh.

Will finished the page he was reading, and used the paper he was taking notes on as a bookmark before he closed the textbook and set it aside. “So, what was it this time?” he asked as he spun around in his chair. “Smashed your face into a wall? A locker? The floor?”

“Kicked, actually,” Nico replied, and at Will’s alarmed expression he elaborated. “Got pushed over, kicked in the stomach a few times, then once in the face before Senorita What’s-Her-Face broke it up and dragged me here.”

Will wheeled his chair over and pulled the ice pack off Nico’s face, setting it aside so he could use both hands to press gently against the bridge of Nico’s nose. “Does this hurt?” he asked, holding his fingers against a few different points on Nico’s nose.

“No worse than it already does,” Nico answered.

“I don’t think it’s broken, so that’s good,” Will told him. “Lift up your shirt.”

Nico smirked at him, and with the blood that had dried to his lips and chin, he looked a little psychotic. “Come on Solace, shouldn’t you know that the clothes don’t come off until at least the third date?”

Will rolled his eyes and hoped that he wasn’t blushing. Yeah, so he was a blushing virgin, but that didn’t mean that he wanted it to be _obvious._ “I’m trying to make sure none of your ribs are broken, di Angelo, so lay back and lift up your shirt.”

“Pushy,” Nico commented, but leaned back and lifted the bottom hem of his shirt to reveal pale skin littered with bruises. “Like what you see?”

“Not really,” Will said with a frown, and then caught himself, sure now that he was blushing like crazy. “I meant, uh, because of the bruises. There’s a lot of bruises, old and new. I almost feel like you should go to a hospital and make sure you don’t have any internal bleeding. I’m uh, gonna have to touch your chest to make sure none of your ribs are broken, is that okay?”

“Sure, whatever,” Nico told him, and shivered minutely when Will placed his hands on the bottom of Nico’s ribcage. His fingers pressed lightly over his ribs up as high as the bruises went, before pulling his hands away completely.

“Well, I don’t think anything’s broken,” Will said, and pulled himself back. “You can sit up again, if you want. Has your nose stopped bleeding yet?”

Nico pulled the wad tissues away from his nose, holding a finger under his nose for a second before drawing it away and seeing it free of blood. “Looks like it.”

Will pushed his heels into the ground and propelled his chair toward the cabinets along the opposite wall, pulling one open the taking out a pack of wet wipes. He tossed them to Nico before reaching into one of the drawers and pulling out a tiny flashlight.

“I’m gonna check you for a concussion,” Will told him. “And then I’m guessing you’re expected in the principal’s office?”

“Yeah,” Nico answered, rolling his eyes as he cracked open the pack of wipes. He scrubbed the dried blood from his hands as Will directed him to follow the flashlight with his eyes, then shone it into Nico’s eyes to check the dilation of his pupils.

“Looks good to me,” Will told him. “Put those wipes away when you’re done, and you’re free to go.” Nico got up as Will moved his chair back to the desk, walking over to the mirror over the sink to make sure he got all the blood off his face. He tossed the pack of wipes back into the cabinet when he finished with them, and went toward the door.

“See you later, Will,” he said, and just before he’d managed to close the door behind him on his way out, Will stopped him.

“Hey, Nico? You, uh, you could just stop in for a visit sometime, you know?” he said, not looking up from his reopened textbook to prevent Nico from seeing the blush still rising high on his cheeks. “You don’t have to keep getting into fights just to have a reason to spend some time with me.” Will glanced up with a joking smile, but Nico had already left, the door left ajar behind him.

Will sighed, glaring down at his textbook. _Stop projecting your feelings, just because he’s pretty doesn’t mean he’s gay._

He turned the page and continued reading about John Adams’s presidency.

 

* * *

 

Will had a study group that he went to once a week that a bunch of the AP kids in his school had organized. Each time they met on a different day of the week, and they rotated who would host, sometimes going to the library when nobody volunteered. It had taken his mom a lot of convincing to let him go to the study group, since it meant that he had to walk across town at night and come home after curfew, usually while his mom was working a late shift at the police station. Finally, Naomi had conceded, seeing as it would only benefit Will to spend as much time studying as he could.

He was usually able to find someone to walk with, at least halfway, but whenever Annabeth hosted, he had to walk by himself since just about everyone else lived in the opposite direction. He tended to keep his head down and hurry home while trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible when he walked down the less-than-safe streets. There were shortcuts he could take, of course, but he wouldn’t dare walk down those streets after sundown.

He had been on the way home from Annabeth’s when he heard shouting coming from across the road. Almost all of the streetlights in that neighborhood were either incredibly dim or burnt out, so Will couldn’t see much of what was happening, but he figured he should hurry along. However, he heard the shouting continue and soon recognized a familiar voice demanding, “Get off of me, you piece of shit!”

Will booked it across the street without even thinking, diving between Nico and the three jocks in varsity jackets surrounding him. “Leave him alone,” Will said, hoping his voice sounded a lot steadier than he was feeling. “My mom’s the sheriff, I’ll call her right now if you don’t get out of here.”

As the jocks ran off, Will turned around and pulled Nico back onto his feet.

“I had it under control, Solace,” Nico huffed, but leaned heavily against Will’s side once he was standing.

“Yeah, it looked like it,” Will said sarcastically. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

“What? Hell no, leave me alone,” Nico argued and tried to push Will away, seeming unaware that Will was supporting almost half his weight. “I get enough shit at school, I don’t need the cops on my ass, too.”

“I’m not calling my mom on you,” Will told him, leading Nico down the street, toward his house. “I promise, I won’t. But we are going to my house so I can make sure you’re not gonna die out here on the street before you can make it to your own home. My mom won’t ever find out, she’s got a late shift tonight, anyway, so we’ve got a good two hours at least.”

“Fine, but as soon as she gets home I’m out of there,” Nico grumbled.

“Yeah, you are,” Will said. “I’m not getting in trouble for you, but if I can keep you from dying then I’ll help while I can.”

“How generous of you,” Nico muttered, and Will could tell his energy was draining considerably with every step.

“Shut up and focus on walking, we’re almost there.”

 

Will had Nico sit on the countertop in the bathroom so that he could clean up the cuts Nico had on his face and arms from where he had been shoved into the concrete. When he was sure that Nico wouldn’t topple over and fall off the counter, he left to get him a glass of water and an ice pack for his head.

“Are you gonna tell me what happened?” Will asked as he smoothed his thumb over a bandage above Nico’s eyebrow.

“Same shit as always,” Nico repeated. He already seemed much more coherent than he’d been just twenty minutes earlier.

“Tell me the _truth,_ Nico,” Will insisted, pressing an alcohol-soaked cotton ball a little too forcefully into a cut on Nico’s cheekbone.

Nico winced at the sting. “Fine! God. That asshole found out I slept with his brother, like, two months ago, so he got his buddies to come beat me up. They think I turned him gay, or some shit, but it’s not like they’re gonna try to beat the gay out of him, and they’ve gotta let their homophobia out somehow.”

Will was frozen, halfway through covering another bandage with Neosporin. “That… sucks. I mean, that’s really awful, I’m sorry that happened.”

Nico snorted, looking anywhere but at Will. “Yeah, straight boy like you, I’m sure you can really sympathize.”

“Empathize,” Will corrected, sticking the bandage to the cut on Nico’s cheekbone. “And, uh, I’m not straight, actually. I’m bi.”

“What?”

“Sympathizing is like saying, _sorry, that sucks,_ like I already did, but empathizing is like--”

Nico shoved at Will’s chest. “Not that, Solace, I don’t care about that. You’re bi?”

This time it was Will that averted his gaze. “Well, yeah. Closeted, but yeah. You’re, uh, you’re the first person I’ve ever told. Not even my mom knows, I’m afraid of how she’s gonna react. I don’t think she’s going to, like, kick me out of the house or something, but--”

Nico fisted a hand in the collar of Will’s shirt, jerking him forward and pressing their lips together, effectively cutting off the rest of Will’s worrying. He groaned when he pushed Will back and said, “Shit, Solace, don’t act so straight while you’re leading a guy on.”

Will’s hands landed on Nico’s thighs to steady himself. “I was leading you on? When was I leading you on?”

_“All the time._ And you’re a terrible flirt, by the way,” Nico informed him, looping an arm around Will’s shoulders and drawing him in closer. “Not in the sense that you flirt too much, but that you’re terrible _at_ flirting.”

“Woah, hey, it’s not like you’re any better,” Will shot back.

“Because I thought you were straight and I don’t flirt with straight boys.”

“Good thing we’ve established that I’m not, then.”

“Sure is,” Nico agreed, and pulled Will in for another kiss. Will’s hands moved up from his thighs to his hips, sliding him closer to the edge of the counter and pressing the two of them together.

It felt like seconds had passed, maybe a minute or two at most, but between gasps for breath, Will heard a car pull into the driveway.

He jumped back so far that he hit the wall behind him. “Shit!”

A flash of hurt shone in Nico’s eyes. “What the hell is your problem, Solace?”

“My mom’s home.”

“What?” Nico exclaimed. “I thought you said we had two hours!”

Will slipped his phone out of his pocket, checking the time. “She’s early. I have to get you out of here!”

“No shit,” Nico huffed, and hopped off the counter, taking a second to steady himself before moving toward the door.

Will grabbed Nico’s wrist and pulled him out of the bathroom and into the guest room across the hall. He let go of the other boy long enough to push the window open before he was shoving Nico toward it.

“Are you gonna be alright?” Will asked as Nico climbed through the window. “I didn’t finish cleaning all those cuts and I never checked you for a concussion--”

“I’ll be fine, Will,” Nico told him from outside the house. He reached back inside, grabbing onto Will’s shirt and pulling him in for one more kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Will said dopily, and Nico smirked before running away from the house.

“Will, are you home?” Naomi called, prompting Will to snap out of his daze and move. He shut and locked the window before rushing back into the bathroom, closing the door as quietly as he could and locking it behind him.

“I’m in the bathroom,” he shouted back.

Will packed up the first aid kit he’d dug out as fast as possible, and his mother knocked on the door.

“Are you alright?” Naomi asked through the door. “You didn’t text me so I got worried.”

“Shit,” Will breathed. That’s why she’d come home early, he’d forgotten to text her saying that he’d gotten home safe, and she must have left work early to check up on him. “I’m fine,” he said, loud enough for her to hear from the hall. “I’m sorry, I forgot. I, uh, I’ve got a stomach ache, and it just kind of slipped my mind, I guess. It won’t happen again.”

“Make sure it doesn’t,” Naomi said, though her voice was soft. “I’m missing out on an hour of overtime pay that we could really use. I don’t want to have to start making sacrifices around here to make ends meet because of something as small as this.”

“I know, Mama,” Will sighed. He’d heard this same speech about five times when he was trying to get her permission to go to his study group. “I won’t forget again, I promise.”

“Alright, I’m going to start getting ready for bed. Do you need anything for your stomach ache?” she asked.

“I’m good,” he said.

“Alright, I’ll see you in the morning, then,” Naomi said. “Goodnight, I love you.”

“Love you, too,” Will said, and slumped over the counter when he heard his mother’s footsteps disappear down the hall.

That had been...awfully close. _Dangerously_ close. That couldn’t happen again.

He put the first aid kit away in the cabinet and left the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

Will had just opened his locker when something slammed into the lockers next to him. He pulled the door of his locker closer to himself so that he could peak around it, and saw Nico leaning against the neighboring lockers. He was reading something on his phone, probably trying to make it look like he wasn’t about to start a conversation with Will.

“What are you doing after school today?” Nico asked, still seeming like his full attention was on his phone.

Will waited a moment before responding. “Oh, are you talking to me?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Who else would I be talking to?”

“Well, you seem so interested in your phone.”

Nico groaned, knocking his head back against the locker, before shoving his phone into his pocket and turning to face Will. “Is this better?”

“I could do without the attitude,” Will joked, and when it looked like Nico might turn and leave, Will leaned close to him and said, “I don’t have any plans today. Did you have something in mind?”

Nico shrugged, dropping his gaze to his feet when he said, “I thought maybe I could drive you home and hang out for a while. If you’re up for that.”

Will hadn’t been sure what to expect, but that sudden shyness certainly wasn’t it. “You don’t mind that I have to keep you hidden from my mom?”

“Please, Will, I’m perfectly content with avoiding the sheriff at all costs,” Nico said, finally meeting Will’s eyes again. He took a step closer, making sure to be right up in Will’s personal space when he said, “Besides, don’t you think all the sneaking around is kinda hot?”

Will felt the flush rise up on his cheeks in an instant, and he almost felt dizzy from the rush of blood to his head. “Okay, yeah, you can drive me home.” _God,_ how was it possible for a single person to be so _intoxicating?_

Will wouldn’t have agreed to it if he’d known that Nico drove a _motorcycle,_ and only had _one_ helmet with him.

Nico had met him outside the front doors of the school and led him into the parking lot, up to a somewhat rusted motorcycle that would probably _just_ fit the two of them on it. Will had stared skeptically at the bike while Nico tried to assure him that it was fine, and fit the helmet over Will’s curly hair.

“But you don’t have a helmet,” Will said.

“It’s not that long of a ride,” Nico responded.

“But it’s dangerous.”

“And I’m careful.”

“But it’s a _motorcycle.”_

“It’s your only ride home, now that the buses have left,” Nico shot back. “So it’s either this or you’re walking.” Nico threw a leg over the bike, sitting down and starting the engine. He took his backpack off and put it back on backwards so that the bag rest against his chest, and patted the seat behind him. “You coming or not?”

Will whined softly, quiet enough that he could barely even hear it over the roar of the engine as Nico revved it, and finally sat down behind him. He pressed himself against Nico’s back, snaking his arms around Nico’s waist and holding on tight.

“You _will_ go slow,” Will said as he set his chin on Nico’s shoulder. “And be careful. And you won’t do anything stupid to intentionally try to scare me.”

“I will do all of those things,” Nico told him with a laugh.

_“Promise.”_

“I promise!” Nico said. “Now hold on.”

He eased the bike into motion, gradually gaining speed and being extra careful for Will’s sake, yet Will still squeezed his arms around Nico’s waist and buried his face in Nico’s shoulder.

Nico had never witnessed something so adorable in his _life._

 

“That was _terrifying,”_ Will exclaimed once they entered his house.

“I didn’t even do anything bad!” Nico argued. “That was the blandest motorcycle ride in _history.”_

“Not possible,” Will insisted, dropping his backpack on the kitchen table.

“You wanna test it?” Nico asked, stepping into Will’s personal space. “I’ll take you for a _fun_ ride, and then you can tell me which was worse.”

“Is this you trying to flirt?” Will asked. “Is that what’s happening here? Because it’s not working very well.”

“Like you’re any better.” Nico rolled his eyes and tugged on the front of Will’s shirt until he leaned down to meet him for a kiss. Nico leaned back against the table, pulling Will up against him, and was about to deepen the kiss when Will pulled away with a smile brighter than the sun.

He stepped back and walked over to the fridge, leaving Nico wondering what the hell had just happened. He’d been anticipating a whole lot more kissing than that, and maybe a change of scenery - like a couch or Will’s bed or something - but now Will was pulling a Capri Sun out of the fridge? Seriously?

“You want anything to drink?” Will asked. “I’ve got Capri Suns. Or do you want a snack?”

Nico blinked at him a few times before holding out his hand. “Yeah, Capri Sun, sure.”

Will tossed him a juice pouch before shutting the fridge and walking back over to the table, though he went right past Nico and sat down at one of the seats. He opened up his backpack and started pulling out textbooks and folders and notebooks, and Nico watched in confusion.

Will glanced up at Nico, still standing over him, and pulled the straw out of his mouth. “Don’t you have homework to do? Take a seat, we can do it together.”

Nico sat down next to him, opening up his backpack and emptying it onto the table. Not exactly the kind of _it_ Nico had anticipated them _doing._

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d done homework, but he certainly knew why he’d stopped. It was _boring,_ and it made his head hurt, and there were plenty of fun things he could be doing right then, imagining them playing out as he ran his foot up the side of Will’s calf.

To be completely honest, Nico had thought that Will might be easy to convince into bed. He was closeted, probably insecure about his sexuality, easy to take advantage of. Led a sheltered life due to an overprotective mom. Quick to show compassion. Definitely not bad to look at, either, which was a bonus for sure.

Except that now, after skimming textbook chapters and solving algebraic equations for over an hour, Nico watched from across the kitchen as Will made Kraft Mac and Cheese for two while still managing to read the textbook sitting next to him - he realized that he hadn’t stuck around for an easy lay. He _liked_ Will. He didn’t think he’d _ever_ liked someone the same way that he knew he liked Will now. It was like the skeletons of butterflies he’d once felt in his stomach had reanimated and were making his insides all fluttery again. He felt an irresistible desire to smile whenever Will smiled at him. He found himself laughing when Will would make a joke, even if he didn’t really get it or didn’t find it particularly funny, all that mattered was that it got Will to smile.

He hated that it had to come to an end when the sheriff’s shift ended that night. He hated the way that Will was rushing to get him out the door when Nico just wanted to slow down and draw Will in close and kiss him like he _meant it_ for once. So he did, and he slowed Will down for just a minute, just long enough to kiss him soft and sweet before Will pulled back with his forehead pressed to Nico’s.

“She’ll be home any minute, Neeks,” Will whispered, and the nickname had come out of nowhere, but Nico loved the sound of it out of Will’s mouth. “You’ve gotta get out of here before she comes back.”

“I know,” Nico said, and dragged Will into another kiss. It was the last one, he swore to himself, for tonight at least. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

Will had been surprised to not see Nico even once that week in the nurse’s office. He was happy about it, don’t get him wrong - or, no, happy wasn’t quite the right word. He missed seeing Nico during the day, but he _didn’t_ miss seeing him bloody and bruised.

In fact, the whole hour that Will had spent there that day had been incredibly boring. Only one single student had come in, a freshman in need of a bandaid, and Will had managed to finish all of the homework he’d been given during the first half of the day. He leaned back in his chair with a sigh, slipping his phone out of his pocket and about to text Nico when the door opened.

Nico was shoved into the room with a split lip and a swollen eye.

“See that Mr. di Angelo finds his way to the principal’s office after he’s done here,” the gym teacher said to Will before shutting the door behind himself when he left.

Being a frequent visitor of the nurse’s office, Nico would normally walk over to the freezer to grab himself an ice pack before sitting down, but something was different about this time. He wasn’t moving from where he stood in the middle of the room, his eyes - well, the one that wasn’t half-shut, at least - were locked on the floor, and his jacket was pulled tight around him.

“I know it’s been a while since you’ve been here,” Will started, smiling, “but there’s no way you’ve forgotten where everything is already.”

“Right,” Nico muttered, and shuffled toward the fridge, pulling an ice pack out of the freezer. When he turned around to make his way toward the cot, Will was right there next to him and placing a hand on his uninjured cheek.

“What’s wrong?” Will asked with a frown. “What happened?”

Nico held the ice pack to his eye and slumped forward to hide his face in Will’s chest. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Will said, and grabbed Nico’s arms to pull him back until they were looking at each other again. “Hey. What?”

Nico sighed, dropping his gaze again. “I’m probably going to get a detention. I won’t be able to drive you home today.”

“Okay,” Will said, “but I feel like that’s not all of it.”

“I was trying not to get in any more fights.”

“What, don’t wanna get caught spending time with me?” Will asked in a joking tone.

“No, of course that’s not it,” Nico said, glaring up at him, but looked away again when he continued, “I just didn’t want you to worry about me.”

“Aw, you care about me,” Will teased.

“Shut up,” Nico shot back, shoving at Will with his free hand and sitting down on the cot.

Will pulled his chair over and sat across from him. “So, when you say that you were trying _not_ to get into fights, does that mean that before you _were_ trying to get into them?”

Nico averted his gaze again, staying silent for long enough that Will could gather the answer himself.

“Are you kidding me, Nico?”

“I needed to have some decent reason to come see you,” he argued.

“I told you before, you could’ve just stopped by,” Will reminded him. “You didn’t think I could stand to see a friendly face every once in a while?”

_“My_ face?”

“Yes, you idiot, _your_ face,” Will said, and took a deep breath. When he spoke again, he was much calmer, and leaned closer to Nico. “It’s a very nice face, and I appreciate that you were trying to preserve it for my sake.” He pushed himself closer, pressing a kiss to the corner of Nico’s mouth, frowning when he pulled back. “Your lip is bleeding.”

“No shit.”

 

* * *

 

After a month of...what were they doing, really? It didn’t really feel like dating, so he couldn’t call it that. They were...together? Except they hadn’t really talked about it. Were they boyfriends, or were they just...hanging out? Hanging out with a lot of kissing and sneaking around so that Will’s mom didn’t find out?

After a month of whatever they were doing, Will got a text from Nico telling him to sneak out and buy Nico dinner.

Will was in fact eating dinner at that moment with his mom, which they only got to do about once a month due to her terrible work schedule. He also wasn’t allowed to have his phone out during dinner, but figured he’d snuck his phone out under his desk in school often enough that he might be able to trick his mom, at least for long enough that he could read the message.

He stuffed a bite of mashed potatoes into his mouth with one hand as he typed his response with the other: _can’t, mom’s home._ He set his phone next to his leg on his chair, and just as he was about to talk another bite, it buzzed a few times in quick succession.

“William,” his mother said, raising an eyebrow at him. “You know the rule, no phones at the dinner table.”

“I know, sorry, Mama,” he said. “It’s probably just my study group trying to figure out who’s house we’re meeting at next. I’m sure it’s nothing important.”

Conversation was usually slow at their monthly dinners, but tonight Naomi told her son about the day she’d had at work, how she’d had to break up a street fight in the middle of the day - during school hours, she’d said, and Will internally sighed in relief knowing that Nico wouldn’t have gotten caught up in it. She asked how Will’s day went, if there’d been any interesting visitors to the nurse’s office. He told her that he hadn’t had a single visitor, when in fact he’d had one very interesting visitor that he just couldn’t tell her about.

When he finished his dinner, he said, “I’ve got some more homework to finish up tonight, so after I wash the dishes, I’m gonna go do that in my room.”

Naomi waved a hand at him. “Don’t worry about the dishes, I’ll take care of them.”

“No, it’s fine, I--”

“Don’t argue with your mother, Will,” Naomi told him with a smile. “Go finish your homework, I’ll clean everything up. It’ll give me something to do before I turn in tonight.”

“Thanks, Mama,” Will said, rising out of his chair and heading toward the stairs, pressing a kiss to his mother’s cheek as he passed.

He ran up to his room, closing his door and immediately pulling out his phone to read the other texts he’d received during dinner. There were six, all from Nico, the first of which saying: _that’s why I said to sneak out._ He scrolled past the rest, noticing one that said, _fine, don’t answer,_ before reading the last of the texts: _I’ll come to you._

Will was frantically typing out his response - _No, don’t do that!_ \- when he heard a _clack_ from somewhere near his window. He went over, looking out and down at the yard where he saw Nico throw a pebble that would’ve hit Will square between the eyes if not for the glass between them.

He slid the window open and leaned out once he was sure that Nico wouldn’t start throwing any more rocks. “What are you doing, you idiot? You’re gonna get caught! And also, rocks, really? What is this, an eighties rom-com?”

“Don’t have such little faith in me, Will,” Nico called up to him. “I’m an _expert_ at sneaking around. Step back from your window, I’m gonna climb this grid thing on the wall.”

“Oh my God,” Will groaned, stepping back and hiding his face in his hands, not wanting to see whether Nico made it through the window or not - and also afraid of what would happen if he didn’t make it.

He heard a huff of breath and peeked between his fingers to see Nico leaning halfway through his window. “See? I told you, I’m the expert.” He hooked his leg over the windowsill and lost his balance, toppling into the room and landing on the floor with a thud.

Will snorted, trying to hold back his laughter as Nico picked himself up off the floor. “It’s called a lattice,” he said, and Nico frowned at him in confusion. “That grid thing. It’s a lattice.”

Nico rolled his eyes and crossed the room until he was standing directly in front of Will. “You’re a lattice,” he said, grabbing the front of Will’s shirt, and pulled him in for a kiss.

Will pressed his forehead against Nico’s, breaking the kiss. “What’re you doing here?”

“I missed my boyfriend and nobody would buy me dinner, so I thought I’d drop by.”

“Boyfriend?” Will repeated, drawing back slightly. Nico had a boyfriend? What was he doing spending so much time with Will if he was dating someone else? Was that what he meant when he kept talking about how good he was at sneaking around?

“Yeah, is that a problem?” Nico asked, a hint of concern on his face.

_“Yeah,_ it’s a problem, you have a _boyfriend,”_ Will said, like it should be obvious, and pushed Nico back.

“Woah, Will, wait,” Nico said. “You know _you’re_ the boyfriend, right?”

“You-- I...wait, what?” Will froze, and Nico started laughing, covering his mouth with his hand so that the sound wouldn’t travel.

“God, you’re adorable,” Nico said, swooping in again and drawing Will in for another kiss.

“Will, are you alright?” Naomi’s voice came from downstairs, and Will jumped back. “I heard a loud noise, what happened?”

“I’m fine!” Will shouted back, darting around Nico to shut his window, and then pushing Nico toward his closet when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. “Hide, hurry!” He shut Nico inside his closet just as his mother knocked on his door, walking in only a second later.

“Will, what was that noise?” Naomi demanded.

“Nothing, I just, uh, tripped over my backpack,” Will lied.

“And I thought I heard your window open,” Naomi continued, raising an eyebrow in suspicion and crossing her arms.

“Yeah, I thought some fresh air might help me think, but the breeze would’ve ended up blowing papers all over my desk so I changed my mind.”

Naomi still looked skeptical, but after a tense moment she conceded. “Alright, I’m turning in for the night. Try to keep it quiet in here so I can get to sleep. I love you, Will, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I’ll make sure to read as quiet as possible,” he said. “Love you, too. Goodnight.”

He closed the door after his mother left, leaning against it after a moment to take a calming breathe before opening up his closet.

Nico leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. “Well, would you look at that, now we’re both in the closet.”

Will grabbed his hand and pulled him into the room, resting his forehead against Nico’s. “I’m so sorry, it was the first idea that popped into my head.”

“You’re a very quick thinker,” Nico commented. “Where’d you learn to lie like that, by the way?”

“My mom is the sheriff, Nico. I _have_ to lie,” Will replied. “You don’t _really_ think I’m a big goody-two-shoes, do you?”

“Only goody-two-shoeses call themselves goody-two-shoes,” Nico said. He started walking Will backwards until he was sitting on the edge of his bed, and Nico climbed into his lap. “Now, don’t you think there’s something a little more fun we could be doing than talking?”

“I’m just a pair of lips to you, aren’t I?” Will asked with a pout.

“And a tongue, that’s important, too,” Nico replied, and pressed their lips together forcefully enough to knock Will over onto his back. Will’s arms wound around Nico’s back, holding him close as Nico slipped his tongue into Will’s mouth.

“You should stay here tonight,” Will whispered when Nico pulled away for a breath.

Nico seemed surprised for a second before he rolled his eyes and said, “You’re just trying to look like you’re not a goody-two-shoes. But if you insist, then maybe we should get a little more comfortable.” He slipped his hands under the hem of Will’s shirt and pulled it up, revealing tan, freckled skin and well-defined muscles. Well, as well-defined as muscles can be when you’re seventeen.

Nico sat back on Will’s hips, staring down at his chest. “What the hell.”

“What?” Will asked.

“Why are you buff? I thought you were a nerd!”

“I’ve done track and field since the sixth grade,” Will told him. “You’ve had your hands all over me for the last month, how did you not notice this?”

“I don’t know, hands are different then eyes,” Nico argued, gaze still glued to Will’s skin.

Will rolled his eyes. “If it’s gonna be a problem, then I can put my shirt back on.”

“Oh, absolutely not,” Nico said, and pulled his own shirt off over his head. He swooped down and licked a stipe up Will’s chest. “Definitely not a problem.”

Will stared into Nico’s eyes, recognizing some kind of hunger in them, and breathed out, “Holy shit,” before dragging Nico down for another kiss.

 

* * *

 

Normally, Will and Naomi would wake up at the same time, have breakfast together, and Will would be dropped off at school in a squad car - which had been super cool in elementary school, but not so much anymore.

With his impromptu guest, however, Will decided before they went to sleep that it would be best to wake up earlier - five in the morning instead of six, and he groaned just thinking about it - and sneak Nico out before Naomi was even awake.

After setting his alarm, he’d curled up around Nico, an arm around his waist and his nose nestled into his hair, and the two had fallen asleep.

Only to be woken an hour earlier than expected.

_“William Andrew Solace,_ what the hell is going on in here?” Naomi screeched from the entrance to Will’s room.

Will bolted upright and Nico practically fell out of the bed, reaching for his discarded jeans and frantically trying to pull them on before he’d even fully hit the ground.

“Mom! Uh, this isn’t-- It’s not what it looks like--”

“William,” Naomi snapped, pointing an angry finger at her son and silencing him. “You are grounded until further notice, and when you get home from school today, we will be having a _very_ serious discussion. And _you.”_ She finally entered the room and grabbed Nico by the arms, yanking him up to his feet. “If I ever see you in this house again - if you ever _speak_ to my son again - I _will_ arrest you.” She reached down and grabbed the pair of high top converse at the foot of Will’s bed and shoved them into Nico’s chest before clamping a hand on the back of his neck and leading him out of the house.

“You will leave, and you won’t ever come back to this house, do you understand me?” Naomi said as she shoved Nico out the front door. “If I find out that you had any contact with Will then I won’t hesitate to file a restraining order against you. Now get off my property.”

Nico booked it down the street, ignoring the rocks that dug painfully into his bare feet as he ran around the block to where he’d left his bike. He didn’t bother to put on his shoes as he started his bike and flew down the street, arriving outside his own house in about twenty minutes.

He unlocked the front door and threw his shoes on the ground right inside, hurrying through the kitchen to the stairs. His father, having just woken up, was making coffee and when he saw Nico he demanded, “And where the hell have you been?” Nico ignored him and ran up the stairs.

He went right past his own room and walked into Hazel’s instead, dropping onto her bed and curling up on his side.

“Huh, what?” Hazel muttered, waking up at the sudden motion on her mattress. “What’s happening? What time is it?”

“It’s four-thirty,” Nico told her. “I just got home, I-- I need to talk to you.”

Hazel rolled over onto her side to face her brother. “Oh boy, what happened this time? Did you sleep with the younger brother of another jock who’s gonna beat you up?”

“Sort of,” Nico said, curling in on himself even further. “Except replace _brother of a jock_ with _son of the sheriff_ and _beating me up_ with _having me arrested if I ever speak to him again.”_

“Yikes,” Hazel said. “Sheriff Solace? But she seems so nice!”

“I thought she was gonna kill me right there in his room,” Nico whispered, voice shaking like he might start to cry.

Hazel reached out, patting the bed a few times until she found Nico’s hand, and held it tightly. “You really liked this one, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Nico croaked.

“I guess it’s a good thing that you’ve never listened to the police before,” Hazel said. “Why would you start now?”

“Because she said--” Nico cut himself off, realizing what his sister meant. “Oh. You mean-- _Oh._ You’re the best, you know that?”

“I know,” Hazel said. “You can show your gratitude by getting out and letting me go back to sleep.”

 

* * *

 

Nico hadn’t been able to fall back asleep, so he spent the two remaining hours until he had to leave for school finishing up homework that he’d neglected to do for the past week. Once it was finally an acceptable time to leave, he changed out of the clothes he’d been wearing the day before - realizing after he’d shed the shirt that it was actually Will’s and not his own - and left for school. He knew he should’ve taken the shirt with him to return it to Will, but he decided to hold on to it to give back later. He told himself that it was so that he could wash it first, but really he wanted to have something of Will’s to keep in case his plan didn’t work out.

He made a beeline to Will’s locker, waiting there for a few minutes until Will walked up, hesitating when he saw Nico but continuing forward after a moment. When Will reached his locker, he was close enough that Nico could see the puffy redness around his eyes, showing that he’d been crying just a short time before.

“I’m sorry,” Nico told him softly, though Will didn’t respond, didn’t even acknowledge him. “I shouldn’t have stayed over because then we wouldn’t have gotten caught, but I don’t regret it, okay? I...I really like you, and I really like _being with_ you, and… I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? You know, if we keep seeing each other. We snuck around for over a month without your mom finding out, so who’s to say we can’t _keep_ sneaking around? I just won’t come over anymore, and I guess I won’t be able to drive you home, either, but we can still see each other here, and it’ll all work out fine.”

Will sighed, shutting his locker carefully. He didn’t look at Nico when he said, “I’ll think about it.”

He turned and walked away.

 

Will took the bus home from school that day. He’d been quiet and unresponsive throughout the day, even during his free period in the nurse’s office. He’d dragged his feet on the walk home from the bus stop, trying to delay the inevitable for as long as he could, despite knowing that his mom wouldn’t be getting home from work for another hour at least.

He couldn’t focus on his homework once he’d finally gotten home, either. He stared blankly down at his textbook until his mother walked through the front door, walking straight to the table and sitting down across from him.

“Put your homework away,” Naomi ordered.

“I haven’t finished it yet,” Will said, glaring down at the pages.

“I don’t care, put it away,” Naomi repeated. “We have an awful lot to talk about.”

“So start talking,” Will told her, slamming his textbook shut.

“I think you should start, actually. Explain yourself.”

Will slumped back in his chair, tapping the end of his pencil on the table. “We didn’t expect you to wake up that early.”

“I got called in for an emergency,” Naomi explained. “Who was he?”

“My boyfriend.”

“His name, Will.”

He snorted. “Yeah, right, like I’m gonna tell you so you can put out an APB or something.”

“Fine. Your... _boyfriend._ You never told me that you’re gay.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Because I’m not. I’m bi.”

“You could have told me.”

“Sure.”

“I love you, Will. Your sexuality isn’t going to change that fact.”

Will didn’t respond.

“How old is he?”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know if I can add statutory rape to the list of charges I’ve been compiling. So far, I’ve got trespassing, breaking and entering--”

“Are you kidding me?” Will snapped. “None of those charges would hold up! I let him in the house, I _invited him over._ _Everything_ was consensual - driving me home from school, coming into the house, touching, kissing, sex last night--” Naomi’s gasp cut off Will’s ramblings, though he regained his footing before she could speak. “He’s seventeen, like me. If you wanna get technical, I’m older. So if you’re gonna charge someone with _statutory,_ then I guess it’s me.”

“You-- You had-- with--” Naomi leaned forward, hiding her face in her hands. “One month. You’re grounded for a month. No study group. No TV. Internet for homework only. I’m letting you keep your phone, but only so you can text me when you get home from school. I’ll be driving you there every day, and you’ll take the bus home. If I find out that you had _any contact_ with this boy, I’ll add another month. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I get it,” Will said, and started packing up his homework. “I’ll see you in a month.” He grabbed his backpack and walked out of the kitchen, heading for the stairs.

“You’ll see me for dinner, you mean.”

“Not hungry. I’ll be in my room.”

Will ran up the stairs and into his room, letting his door slam shut behind him. He threw his backpack on his bed and grabbed his desk chair, jamming it under the doorknob to keep the door shut in place of a lock. Why couldn’t he have thought of that last night?

He let himself fall back on his bed, slipping his phone out of his pocket and opening up his contacts. He found Nico’s file, changed the name, and sent him a text saying, _Grounded for a month. I’ll see you tomorrow. We’ll figure it out from there._

 

* * *

 

They found that it’s very difficult to keep a secret relationship a secret when you don’t have a home to hide it in. On the bright side, Will didn’t have to worry about coming out to anyone. His classmates gradually figured out what was happening between him and Nico by seeing them spending so much time together, walking each other to classes, and the rare sight of them sharing a kiss at the end of the school day.

They spent most of their time together in the nurse’s office, which occasionally meant that Nico would skip his fourth period class just to sit with Will a little bit longer. He wasn’t able to drive Will home after school because the sheriff had set one of her deputies on patrolling the school at the end of every day, keeping an eye out for the “dark haired boy with the motorcycle.”

Will made sure to follow the rules to a T so that he could become un-grounded as soon as possible and meet up with Nico outside of school, so as soon as his month of imprisonment had ended, he told his mom that he was going out to his study group and met Nico around the corner. They went out to dinner and a movie, their first real date, and stayed out just long enough to make it truly seem like Will had gone to his study group, but not so long that he got home late after Nico dropped him off on the other side of the block.

They managed to sneak around for another two months, the days getting longer as summer quickly approached, Will finding more and more time to get out of the house as his “study group” started meeting up more and more frequently as finals came closer. He’d even faked a study group all-nighter so that he could spend the night with Nico while his parents were out of town - they did some studying, of course, because Will couldn’t let his grades slip, but with the whole night ahead of them, they’d had plenty of time for other things, too.

Since they were no longer hiding just from Will’s mom but the entire police department, they had to be particularly careful where they went after school. They couldn’t leave together or be seen entering another building at the same time, and if they noticed a cop car patrolling around a certain area of the town, then they would get as far away from there as possible. The only issue with that was how the other side of town usually coincided with the _wrong_ side of town, and there was a reason that Naomi hadn’t wanted Will walking around after dark.

 

The police station was mostly empty, save for a few officers working the night shift and the sheriff finishing up the last of the day’s paperwork. She was ready to give in and call it a night so that she could head home and hopefully get to sleep at a decent hour, when the phone on the corner of her desk rang.

“This is Sheriff Solace,” she answered, shoving the paperwork aside.

“Hi Sheriff, there’s a bit of a situation in the Phoebus Hospital Emergency Room,” a voice that Naomi recognized as a nurse from the nearby hospital said.

“Understood, I’ll have one of my deputies there to fill out a report in no more than ten minutes,” Naomi said, and started to pull the phone away from her ear when the nurse continued.

“Wait! Sorry, Sheriff, but I called _you_ specifically because, well, it should really be _you_ that comes to check this out.”

Naomi took a breath, hoping to keep the frustration out of her voice before she spoke again. “Miss, I think you should explain to me what is happening, _now.”_

“A couple of high school-age boys were mugged and brought here,” the nurse said hurriedly. “One of them was just taken up for emergency surgery and the other is… Well, the other is your son, Ma’am.”

“You’re lying to me,” Naomi said, anger seeping into her tone.

“N-no, Ma’am, why would you think--”

“My son sent me a text twenty minutes ago telling me that he had made it home from his study group and was heading to bed,” Naomi hissed. “I don’t know who you have in your ER, but that is _not_ my son.”

“Please, Sheriff, just come and see for yourself,” the nurse said, and ended the call.

Naomi huffed, rising out of her chair abruptly and storming out of her office. This had _better not_ be a waste of her time.

She drove to the hospital with her lights and siren on, speeding up her drive so that she arrived outside the ER in around five minutes. She marched into the hospital, straight up to the receptionist’s desk, and demanded to know why she’d been told to come there. The nurse behind the desk pointed her toward the waiting area and Naomi thought she might explode with anger at being told to sit and wait, when she looked over and saw Will in one of the chairs.

Naomi took a calming breath before walking over and taking a seat across from her son, who flinched back when he saw her.

“Hey, Mama,” he whispered, tears streaming down his cheeks and arms wrapped around himself protectively - or, no, that wasn’t quite it. One of his arms was wrapped up and in a sling, and it was then that Naomi noticed the growing bruise on his cheek and the cuts and scrapes littering his other arm.

“Will, honey, what happened?” Naomi asked gently, but tensed at the next thought that came into her head. “Did that boy do this to you? The one with the motorcycle? Will, if he so much as laid a finger on you--”

_“No,_ Mama, just shut up!” Will snapped, and hid his face in his hand.

“Do _not_ use that tone with me, William,” Naomi said. “Now explain to me what happened. _Starting with_ what you’re doing out past curfew and why you _lied_ to me about being at home.”

Will sighed, tears slipping through his fingers and dripping onto his jeans. “I haven’t been going to my study group. Not since you grounded me,” he told her. There was no point in hiding anything now, and he figured he’d might as well come clean about the past few months as well. “I’ve been with Nico-- My boyfriend. His name is Nico.”

“This is the same boyfriend I told you never to speak to again,” Naomi said, voice and expression neutral, terrifyingly so.

“Yeah,” Will croaked. “We were walking around on the west side of town tonight, and I said I knew of this shortcut, and he tried to tell me that we shouldn’t go that way, but we did anyway, and-- There was this guy with a knife and he came out of nowhere. I didn’t wanna give him my phone so he broke my arm and punched me in the face. I… I hit the ground and I don’t really know what happened after that, but I know that Nico got between us and-- There was so much blood, Mama, and they took him up for surgery, and-- What if he doesn’t make it? What if he dies and it’s all my fault?”

Naomi stood from her chair and moved to sit next to Will, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him in for a hug. “It’s going to be alright, honey,” she said soothingly, running her fingers through his hair and pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “He’ll be just fine. It’s not your fault. Shh, honey, it’s all going to be okay.” Naomi sighed, realizing that if anyone was to blame, it was probably herself. “I’m sorry for making such a snap judgement of this boy, and I shouldn’t have kept you from seeing each other. I made a rash decision, and I’m sorry for that. You’re going to be grounded again for lying to me so often, but once that’s over, I suppose I can allow you to continue seeing this boy.”

Will rolled his eyes and pulled himself out of Naomi’s embrace. As he wiped the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand, he said, “That’s not exactly my biggest concern right now since I was probably going to keep seeing him anyway, but thanks, I guess.”

Naomi huffed and opened her mouth to argue, but before she could speak, a doctor approached them and asked Will to follow her.

“He’s going to be just fine,” the doctor said as she led Will up to the room where they’d taken Nico after surgery. “He should be waking up any moment now, and did I see the sheriff here to file a report?”

“Uh, yeah, but she can wait,” Will replied. He wanted to cut the chit chat and _run_ to wherever Nico was, but he couldn’t do that when he didn’t quite know where Nico was. “He’s really going to be alright? The bleeding’s stopped, there weren’t any complications?”

“No complications, everything went smoothly,” the doctor told him, and stopped outside a door. “See for yourself, it looks like he might be awake.”

She gestured through the doorway and Will walked inside, rushing to Nico’s bedside when he saw his boyfriend smiling dopily up at him. He brushed his fingers through Nico’s hair, and Nico reached up to poke at a tear that was trailing down Will’s cheek.

“Are you crying over me, Solace?” Nico mumbled, leaning into Will’s touch. He was blinking slowly like he might fall asleep at any second, but Will figured that was just a side effect of the painkillers he was undoubtedly on.

“Not my fault,” Will told him. “You had me worried. You said you were gonna stop worrying me, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Nico said with an overdramatic roll of his eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Shut up, you’re the one that was just in surgery,” Will reminded him. “Are _you_ okay?”

“That depends. If you’re good, then I’m good. But if you’re _not_ good, then we’re gonna have a problem.”

Will beamed, leaning down to press his forehead to Nico’s. “I think you’re high from the painkillers.”

Nico hummed, letting his eyes slip shut. “Yeah, it’s good shit.”

Will pressed his lips to Nico’s and when he pulled back, Nico was smiling brighter than Will had ever seen him smile before. “I’m gonna tell you something,” Will whispered. “I’m gonna say it now because I don’t think you’ll remember it when the drugs wear off, but I think I love you, Neeks.”

Nico tugged on the collar of Will’s t-shirt and pulled him down for another kiss. “Right back at you, Sunshine.”

**Author's Note:**

> honestly i started writing these prompt fics for writing practice and i really really think its helping so thanks to everyone who has suggested a list for me to turn into a fic, and I'm still taking suggestions on tumblr!!  
> thanks for reading!!


End file.
